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Series Code: PU
Program Code: PU000007S
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00:01 What do the mysterious images of Daniel and Revelation mean?
00:05 When will the anti-Christ appear and make his final move. How can 00:12 I will be ready for the final events of earth's history. You'll be 00:16 amazed and encouraged by what the Bible reveals. Join us as 00:21 Pastor Brian McMahon leads out in Prophecy Unsealed. 00:29 Our subject to night friends we have entitled When Grace Becomes 00:34 A Disgrace. Our last night together we saw a beautiful 00:38 harmony of scriptures throughout the Old and the New Testaments. 00:42 Clearly establishing God's 10 commandment law as the highest 00:47 standard of morality for this world. And we saw that it is our 00:51 Christian duty from a heart of love to obey this law and we saw 00:55 as we went into Matthew chapter 7 a sad situation that there's 00:59 going to be a group of people at the end, they're going to cry 01:01 Lord, Lord but they're not going to be saved and wanted to 01:04 why wouldn't they be saved? We found out that they weren't 01:08 doing the will of God. And we wanted to know what the will of 01:10 God was so we went to Psalm 40 verse 8 and we saw that the will 01:14 of God was to have God's law in our heart. So what we're going 01:18 to do tonight friends is something very interesting. 01:20 We're going to build on this subject that we started our last 01:23 time together because we saw in Revelation that God's last day 01:27 saints are going to be a commandment keeping people and 01:30 yet there are still many people that decide and they call 01:33 themself Christians and they decide that that don't want the 01:35 10 commandments and it causes confusion and they say things 01:38 like this. They say well the 10 commandments it was nailed to 01:41 the cross and done away with. Or we have grace now and so we 01:44 don't need obedience. Or they'll say Jesus fulfilled the law and 01:48 therefore we don't have to fulfill it. And people wonder, 01:51 sincere people wonder what do those few things really mean in 01:55 when compared with those other verses that clearly establish 01:59 the 10 commandments. So the first one we're going to go to 02:02 here is James 2 and verses 10-12 For whosoever shall keep the 02:06 whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of how much 02:10 friends? Of all. That's right. For he that said, Do not commit 02:13 adultery, he said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no 02:16 adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the 02:19 law. Now he took two of the commandments here, killing and 02:23 adultery. He could have said any of the 10 but he just chose two. 02:26 But it could have been any of them. And then he says: So speak 02:29 ye and so do as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. 02:34 So that's very clear. James says that we need to keep God's law 02:37 If we choose to put ourselves against any part of it God 02:40 considers as if you broke all of it. Now one on the right side 02:44 now. Colossians 2 verses 14 and 15. This is one that is commonly 02:48 used to try to convince people that we don't need the law of 02:52 God. Let's go here to verse 14. It says blotting out the 02:56 handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was 02:59 contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his 03:01 cross. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he 03:05 made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. So 03:10 here we find that God is speaking about something nailed 03:14 to the cross and people think that that's the commandments 03:16 that was nailed to the cross. So then let's go to Matthew 03:20 chapter 5 verse 17. Here Jesus says think not that I am come 03:24 to destroy the law or the prophets. We saw this our last 03:27 time together. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For 03:29 verily I say unto you Till heaven and earth pass, one jot 03:33 or one title shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be 03:36 fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least 03:39 commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the 03:41 least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach 03:46 them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 03:50 Well that's very clear isn't it. Here's another verse 03:52 that's commonly used to try to convince people against the 10 03:55 commandments. Ephesians 2 verse 15. And it says: Having 03:58 abolished in his flesh the enmity even the law of 04:02 commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in 04:04 himself of twain one new man, so making peace. So here is a law 04:12 of commandments, it says it was contained in ordinances. It 04:15 clearly says it was abolished and many people think that that 04:18 was the 10 commandments. Revelation 14:12 it says: Here 04:22 is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the 04:25 commandments of God and the faith in Jesus. The next text 04:28 is possibly one of the most used texts to try to convince people 04:32 against the 10 commandments, It's found in Romans 6 and verse 14 04:36 and here's what it says: For sin shall not have dominion over you 04:39 for you are not under the law, but under what? Under grace. 04:44 So they say see we don't need the law, we have grace now, the 04:46 law is not significant. One more set of texts here. 1 John 2:3,4 04:51 Here's what it says: And hereby we do know that we know him, 04:54 Him of course being Jesus...if we keep his commandments. He 04:58 that saith, I know him, and keepeth, not his commandments, is 05:01 liar, and the truth is not in him. Now let's go one more on 05:05 the right here Galatians 3:23-25 And it says in Galatians 3: But 05:10 before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the 05:15 faith which should afterward be revealed. Wherefore the law 05:18 was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be 05:22 justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no 05:25 longer under a schoolmaster. So it's saying that the law was 05:29 leading us to Jesus, but now that we have found Jesus now the 05:32 law is not necessary. That's what people make out of it okay. 05:35 That's not what it's saying but that's what people get out of it 05:38 So we're going to come back to that as well. There are those 05:40 that will quote those on the left side and they'll say it's 05:43 very, very clear that we should keep the commandments. Then 05:45 there are those that will use those texts on the right side 05:47 that say no we don't need the commandments. And people wonder 05:50 how do we solve this? You know this is going to be one of the 05:53 most important things that you're going to learn. Because 05:56 you're going to come against this over and over as you talk 05:58 to other people. So let's now review from this one 1 John 3:4: 06:03 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: 06:06 for sin is the transgression of the law! So we know that we have 06:13 law today because we have sin in our world today. If there was no 06:17 law there would be no sin because sin is the breaking of 06:20 the law. So again these people that tell us that there is no 06:23 law cannot be telling us the truth because sin is defined by 06:26 the law. I'm going to do something a little bit different 06:29 here tonight. I'm going to quote from a very well known 06:31 evangelist, Billy Graham, recently passed to his rest and 06:36 he had a newspaper column throughout the United States, 06:38 but generally across the southern part and people would 06:41 write in questions and he would publish the answers to it. And 06:45 sometimes those questions pertained to the 10 commandments 06:48 Some religious people I know tell me that the 10 commandments 06:51 are part of the law and do not apply to us today. They say that 06:55 Christians are free from the law Is that right? So that was the 06:58 question that was posed. Here was Billy Graham's answer. He 07:01 says: No, it is not right, and I hope that you will not be misled 07:04 by these false opinions. It is very important that Christians 07:07 understand what the Bible means when it says they are free from 07:10 the law. It certainly does not mean that they are free from the 07:14 obligations of the moral law of God, the moral law of God which 07:17 is the 10 commandments, and are at liberty to sin. You see the 07:19 word 'law' is used by the New Testament writers in two senses. 07:24 Sometimes it refers to ceremonial law of the Old 07:27 Testament which is concerned about ritual matters and 07:29 regulations regarding food and drink and things of this kind. 07:32 This ceremonial law was of a passing character, and was done 07:37 away when Christ came. From this law Christians are indeed free. 07:41 But the New Testament also speaks of the moral law which is 07:44 of a permanent unchanging character and is summarized in 07:48 the 10 commandments. This law sets forth God's demands on 07:52 human life and man's duty to God and his neighbor. That it 07:55 definitely applies to the Christian is made clear in 07:57 Romans 13:8-10. Paul is actually talking of the 10 commandments. 08:01 He's listing many of them. Of course it is quite true that the 08:04 Christian is not saved by his efforts to keep the law. But as 08:07 one who is saved by God's mercy through faith in Christ, he is 08:10 under an obligation to obey God's law. Now Billy Graham was 08:14 right down the line correct on this but here is another part of 08:18 it. It says: As it has been said in Christ, we are free from sin, 08:22 but not free to sin. If you love me he said keep my commandments. 08:29 Well again right down the line correct. Now here's another 08:31 question that was asked of him. It says: Which of the 10 08:33 commandments apply to us today I know that they were written 08:36 thousands of years ago and times have changed, but are some of 08:39 them still useful? Chuckles. Are some of them still useful? 08:43 With a chuckle. Well I think so don't you? But let's see what he 08:48 said as a reply. The 10 commandments are never out of 08:50 date. They express the unchanging will of God in our 08:54 lives regardless of changes in human society. If you look at 08:57 them closely, you will see that the first few commandments deal 09:01 with our relationship with God. The other commandments deal with 09:03 our relationship with other people and with things. Our 09:08 lives would be much happier if we followed God's prescription 09:09 for sound living. So this famous man who preached for 50 years 09:15 or more, he said the 10 commandments are never out of 09:18 date. I agree with that, don't you friends. No question about 09:21 it. So he says that there are two specific laws in the 09:26 scripture. One is of a moral nature in the 10 commandments 09:29 and one is for the ceremonial nature that deals with things 09:32 of sacrifice and food and drink and things of that kind. Now 09:35 it's interesting to hear Billy Graham say it but that's not 09:38 enough for us. Here at this seminar we're going to see it in 09:40 the Bible or we don't have to believe it. So let's go to the 09:43 Bible now and see if that is indeed so. We're going to go to 09:47 this verse in 2 Kings chapter 21 and verse 8. Neither will I make 09:52 the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave 09:55 their fathers; only if they will observe to do 09:57 according to all that I have commanded them...speaking of 10:01 God...and according to all the law that my servant Moses 10:04 commanded them. So notice that God says that he commanded law 10:07 and he said Moses commanded law. Now it all originated from God. 10:11 but some he chose to speak directly and some he chose to 10:14 speak through Moses. So let's go take a look these two 10:18 different laws that are spoken of in the Bible. The first one 10:21 is God's law and we read some things about that in Exodus 31 10:25 and verse 18. And it says: And he gave unto Moses, when he had 10:28 made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables 10:32 of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God. 10:36 Now again how profound is this to understand that God's law was 10:40 not written down by pencil on paper. It was written by God 10:45 with his own finger and it was written on what, what kind of 10:47 material? Stone. Absolutely. Here it says: At that time the 10:52 Lord said unto me, Hew thee... or that means carve thee...two 10:56 tables of stone like unto the first, and come up with me into 10:59 the mount, and make thee an ark of wood. And I will write on the 11:04 tables the words that were in the first tables which thou 11:06 brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark. Then verse 4: And he 11:10 wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the 10 11:14 commandments, which the Lord spake unto you in the mount out 11:17 of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the 11:20 Lord gave them unto me. And I turned myself and came down from 11:23 the mount, and put the tables and in the ark 11:26 which I had made; and there they be, as the Lord commanded me. 11:28 God's law, the 10 commandments, were placed in the ark and of 11:33 course the law was called the 10 commandments. Now this was a 11:37 very special piece of furniture. It was made out of wood but it 11:43 was covered in gold inside and out. It has a solid gold lid 11:45 called the mercy seat. It was about 45 inches long, 27 inches 11:49 high and about 27 inches wide and there it was a very sacred 11:52 piece of furniture that God had specially made for the purposes 11:56 of containing the 10 commandments within it. 11:58 And by the way when you see the word ark a lot of times a lot of 12:01 people have only heard about the term Noah's ark, so that's why 12:05 we have to explain that there was a different kind of an ark. 12:07 And that was the ark that contained the 10 commandments. 12:11 Okay. So what do we know about God's law? God's law was written 12:16 by God himself with God's finger written on stone. It was placed 12:20 inside the ark of the Covenant and it was called the 10 12:22 commandments. What about Moses' law? What did it have? 12:26 Deuteronomy 31 verse 9: And Moses wrote this law. Stop right 12:29 there. Who wrote this law? Moses wrote this law...And delivered 12:33 it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the 12:35 covenant of the Lord, and unto all the elders of Israel. So 12:38 right away we put that one up there. Moses wrote that law. 12:41 Let's go on Deuteronomy 31 verse And it came to pass, when 12:45 Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, 12:49 until they were finished, that Moses commanded the Levites, 12:54 that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying 12:55 take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of 12:59 the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a 13:01 witness against thee. So once again what do we find? Moses did 13:06 his with handwriting and he did it in what was called a book 13:09 here in the King James Bible. We would probably have called it 13:12 a scroll if we were to see it today and it says it was placed 13:15 in the side of the ark. Not inside the ark as the 10 13:20 commandments was but a special place for the scroll to be 13:22 rested on the outside and it says it was called The Book of 13:26 the law and it says it was against the people. So that's 13:29 quite a bit of information there but there's actually some more 13:31 things that we can find out about Moses law by going to 13:35 Leviticus 23 verse 5. It says: In the 14th day of the first 13:38 month at even...or at evening... in the Lord's Passover. Passover 13:42 was a particular day that they were required to keep holy back 13:45 in the days of Moses' law. It says: And on the 15th day of the 13:49 same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: 13:52 Seven days you must eat unleavened bread. In the first 13:55 you shall have a holy convocation...which means a holy 13:59 gathering of the people...You shall do no servile work therein 14:02 But you shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven 14:06 days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no 14:10 servile work therein...no ordinary work or labor. Okay? 14:14 So that was a very special day. Let's keep reading. And the Lord 14:17 spake unto Moses saying, speak unto the children of Israel, and 14:20 say unto them, When you come into the land which I give unto 14:23 you and shall reap the harvest thereof, then shall you bring a 14:27 sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest unto the priest: And he 14:31 shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on 14:33 the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. So 14:37 here's another day that they were asked to keep holy back in 14:41 the days of the Old Testament Israel and that was the wave 14:45 sheaf from Moses' law there had been like Passover and holy days 14:50 like the wave sheaf offering. What else did it have? Leviticus 14:54 23:13: And the meat offering thereof shall be two-tenth deals 14:58 fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the 15:02 Lord for a sweet savor: and the drink offering shall be of wine, 15:06 the fourth part of a hin. We're finding that in Moses' law they 15:11 had meat and they had drink offerings. Very important 15:14 because you see that reference in the New Testament quite a lot 15:16 One more thing we want to find out starting with Leviticus 23 15:19 verse 24: Speak unto the children of Israel, saying in 15:23 the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have 15:26 have a...what does it say... a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing 15:31 of trumpets, an holy convocation Now this is known as the feast 15:34 of trumpets. It was a Sabbath but notice it fell on a certain 15:38 date of the calendar very similar to your birthday. Your 15:41 birthday could fall on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, 15:42 Thursday, Friday, Saturday, on any of those days of the week 15:45 because it fell on a certain date of the calendar. So it is 15:49 with these special holy days. They came once a year and 15:56 because they came once a year, they could fall on any of those days 15:58 of the week. Different than the weekly Sabbath which always fell 16:00 on the seventh day of the week. It was called the Sabbath. That 16:04 means it was a holy, special day a day they were to keep. Verse 16:09 27 and Also on the 10th day of this seventh month there shall 16:13 be a day of atonement: it shall be a holy convocation unto you; 16:16 and that means a holy gathering of the people...and ye shall 16:19 afflict your souls and offer an offering made by fire unto the 16:22 Lord. It shall be unto a Sabbath of rest and ye shall afflict 16:27 your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even...which means 16:29 evening...from even unto even shall ye celebrate your Sabbath. 16:31 So again in Moses' law, there were certain annual Sabbath days that 16:36 they were asked to keep holy and these were special ceremonial 16:40 days that always fell on certain dates of the calendar that they 16:45 were required to keep. So now we've got that background we 16:49 can certainly see that there are very specific differences 16:52 between God's law and Moses' law can't we? God's law was written 16:55 by God with his finger on the stone placed inside the ark and was 16:58 called the 10 commandments. Moses' law written by Moses's 17:02 handwriting in a book called the book of the law. It was put on 17:05 the side of the ark, it was against the people and it had 17:08 certain holy days like Passover, and the wave sheaf offering. 17:10 They had meat and drink offerings as part of that and 17:14 they had certain annual ceremonial Sabbath days that 17:18 were attached to it. Now let's take that information back into 17:22 the New Testament and let's start to unlock some of those 17:25 difficult passages. Verse 16 of Colossians 2. It says: Let no 17:29 man therefore judges you in meat, or in drink, or respect of an 17:32 holy day, or the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: Now right away 17:38 when it starts to say let no man judge you in meat or in drink 17:41 what law had the meat and the drink offerings? It wasn't God's 17:45 law but it was whose law, Moses' law, that's right and it says 17:49 there and of the Sabbath days. Now when it speaks about a holy 17:54 day or the new moon those are certain festivals or feasts that 17:57 they were asked to keep. That wasn't in God's 10 commandments. 18:00 That was in Moses' law. The annual Sabbath days, that was 18:05 part of Moses' law. This is what it's talking about here, Sabbath 18:08 days plural. And then we go here as we can see that Moses' law... 18:12 by the way Moses' law was called ceremonial because it dealt with 18:16 a lot of ceremonies. But a key verse is verse 17. It says: 18:21 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. 18:25 So these things in the ceremonial system were shadowy 18:29 things that pointed forward to that which was to be fulfilled 18:33 in Christ. Very, very important. And of course, we know that when 18:38 those things were when Jesus died on Calvary that those 18:40 things were to come to an end. We'll say more about that in 18:44 just a moment. Let's go to Ephesians 2 verse 15: Having 18:47 abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of 18:50 commandments contained in ordinances; for to make of 18:53 himself of twain one new man, so making peace...So it's saying of 18:56 twain, which means of two, the two groups, the Jews and the 18:59 Gentiles, he put them together in Christ and they came together 19:03 as one in faith and made peace between those two groups. But it 19:07 says there was a law of commandments contained in 19:08 ordinances. Now ordinances are laws that were surrounding 19:11 religious feasts or festivals or sacrificial offerings and 19:18 which one of God's and Moses had those? Which one had the feasts 19:20 and the sacrificial offerings attached to it? God's or Moses'? 19:23 Moses, sure. So this is not talking about God's 10 19:26 commandment law at all. Let's go to Hebrews 9 and get some 19:29 information here starting in verse 8. Hebrews 9 and verse 8: 19:32 The Holy Ghost is signifying that the way into the holiest of 19:36 all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle 19:39 was yet standing:...We'll talk more about the tabernacle on a 19:42 night to come...Which was a figure...which means a type... 19:45 for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts 19:47 and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service 19:50 perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; which stood only in 19:53 meats and drinks,...there's that term again...and divers washings 19:59 and carnal...what does it say... ordinances, imposed on them 20:03 until the time of reformation. Now again it's speaking about 20:06 meat offerings and drink offerings, carnal ordinances, 20:08 Which one had the meat and drink offerings and the ordinances? It 20:11 wasn't God's 10 commandment law was it? It was Moses' law of 20:16 ceremonies or the sacrificial system. Let's now take a look at 20:20 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 7. It says: Purge out therefore the 20:24 old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. 20:27 For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:...So here we 20:32 see that Christ is called the Passover because he was the 20:35 fulfillment of the Passover. Way back in the days of the Old 20:40 Testament they were to slay a lamb to show they had faith in 20:42 the Messiah to come and, of course, show repentance for 20:47 their sin. It was their sin that caused the death of that 20:49 animal. That the Messiah that was to come they're showing that 20:52 their sin would cause the death of that Messiah by slaying 20:56 that lamb and those lambs were slain days upon end, years upon 20:59 end, centuries upon end. And finally, finally, Jesus came and 21:06 offered up his life on Calvary and when he did that all of 21:11 those sacrifices were to come to an end. Aren't you thankful 21:13 tonight dear friends that we don't have to sacrifice in order 21:17 to show faith. Aren't you thankful that through our 21:19 prayers our repentance and confession can go right to the 21:23 throne of God and he hears us. Well let's go take a look at 21:27 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 3: For I delivered unto you first 21:31 of all that which I also received, how that Christ 21:34 died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was 21:38 buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the 21:40 scriptures. Now there are about 17 or 18 references in the New 21:43 Testament that talked about Jesus dying [sic] on the third 21:46 day, in or within three days, or on the third day or after three 21:50 days. Lots of references about that but where in the Old 21:53 Testament does it say that. The Old Testament shows us three 21:58 days in successive order. The Passover, the first day of the 22:01 feast of unleavened bread and then there was the wave sheaf 22:03 offering. So Jesus died on the day of the Passover and then he 22:08 laid in the tomb which was to be an annual day of rest, that 22:11 was the first day of the feast of unleavened bread and he rose 22:14 up on the day of the wave sheaf. Because they came in three 22:16 successive days. Now what was the wave sheaf? When the first 22:21 of the crop was ripening usually the barley crop. The priest 22:24 would go and he would take some of the crop and he would form a 22:27 sheaf from it and they would wave it before the Lord in the 22:30 sanctuary to show their dependence upon God, God was 22:33 their great provider but it also showed that as the first fruits 22:36 of the harvest was gathered in it would to be the promise or 22:39 the earnest that there was to be a great harvest to come. Now of 22:43 course Jesus died and he rose again the third day. But notice 22:48 what it says in verse 20 friends But now is Christ risen from the 22:53 dead. So in the context of the resurrection what are we told? 22:56 And become the first fruits of them that slept. Speaking of the 23:02 state of the dead it says these people are sleeping and will 23:04 eventually rise. Christ is the first fruits. He is the 23:07 preeminent one, right. He is the one that without which there 23:09 would be no resurrection. But Jesus is called the first fruit. 23:13 He was the fulfillment of the wave sheaf offering of the Old 23:18 Testament. Now there's something else that's worth pointing out 23:20 here. There's getting to be a lot of confusion over the timing 23:25 of the crucifixion and the resurrection. Did you know that? 23:26 There are those...this theory is gathering steam...that say that 23:30 Jesus didn't die on Friday afternoon and rise up Sunday 23:34 morning which as the understanding of the Christian 23:36 church for many, many centuries. But they're saying now that 23:39 Jesus died on Wednesday and he rose up on Saturday. And the 23:42 reason they come up with that is because they're trying to get 23:45 exactly 72 hours between the time of the crucifixion and the 23:48 resurrection and there is a reason why be absolutely know 23:51 that that is not true. It is absolutely essential that Jesus 23:58 fulfilled everything about the messiah perfectly from the Old 24:00 Testament, right? If Jesus didn't fulfill the prophecies of the 24:04 Messiah, then he wouldn't have been the one. But the prophecy 24:07 that Jesus would be the Passover fulfillment. He would rest on 24:12 the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, he would 24:15 rise up at the wave sheaf offering. Those were on three 24:18 successive days right? Three successive days. But if you take 24:22 the theory of the Wednesday to Saturday scenario you've got 24:26 parts of four days involved, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, 24:29 Saturday. And the reason that we say that is because the Jewish 24:33 method of calculation any part of a day was counted as the full 24:37 day. So now you've got parts of four days involved instead of 24:42 the Old Testament typology of three days involved. It cannot 24:46 be accurate at all. That's just one way of showing that it's not 24:48 accurate. There are other ways as well. For since by man came 24:51 death, by man, came also the resurrection of the dead. For as 24:55 in Adam, all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 24:59 But every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits afterward 25:03 they that are Christ's,...when friends?... at his coming. We 25:09 didn't even use this passage and yet it was one of the best 25:11 passages in all of the Bible. So we know there's going to be a great 25:15 harvest time when Jesus returns. Now let's see the fulfillment of 25:19 that prophecy by going to Revelation 14 verse 13: And I 25:22 heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the 25:27 which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the 25:30 Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do 25:31 follow them. What is Revelation's message 25:35 when it comes to rest? That death is a rest in the grave 25:40 till Jesus comes. But let's keep reading here. There's something 25:42 more I want you to see: And I looked, and behold a white cloud, 25:47 and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having 25:50 on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. So 25:55 here it's describing Jesus coming with the sickle because 25:57 there's going to be a type of reaping takes place. And another 26:00 angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him 26:03 that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the 26:06 time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest...there's the 26:09 harvest friends...of earth is ripe. And then in verse 16 it 26:14 says: And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on 26:15 the earth; and the earth was reaped. So Jesus is the 26:20 first fruits and afterward there's going to be this great 26:21 harvest when he comes of those that die in the Lord. So Jesus 26:25 then he nailed the wave sheaf to the old rugged cross, he nailed 26:31 the Passover service to the old rugged cross and there were 26:35 other things in Moses' ceremonial law that were fulfilled but 26:37 God's holy law of the 10 commandments it is not 26:40 ceremonial in nature at all. It is not of a passing character at 26:44 all. It's very, very different than Moses' law. So here we find 26:48 them again, God's law, Moses' law. Two great laws, one moral 26:52 one ceremonial. One permanent and one temporary. Just the 26:57 material that they were written on shows the difference, right? 27:00 One on stone and one on paper. One nailed to the cross and the 27:07 other was to be for all eternity Can we be clear on that tonight? 27:10 Absolutely. We see that in God's ark of the covenant the 10 27:16 commandments was placed there and it was to remain there as 27:18 an undeniable code of conduct for all of humanity. The law of 27:24 sacrifices, it was a shadow pointing forward to something 27:26 that Jesus would fulfill. When Jesus died on Calvary the Bible 27:30 tells us in Matthew chapter 27 that the veil of the curtain 27:34 that separated the two compartments inside, it was torn 27:38 apart. God's hand did that. This wasn't a paper veil. This was a 27:42 very, very thickly woven veil up to perhaps four inches thick 27:46 and it says it was torn from the top to the bottom. Now if man 27:50 tore that veil it'd probably be torn from the bottom to top. But 27:53 God's hand moved the very moment Jesus died and it says that veil 27:58 was torn exposing again the Most Holy Place showing that all of 28:02 these things were to come to an end. Now did the Jews take that 28:07 clue from God? No. Sadly they sewed up the veil and they 28:09 continued to offer sacrifices until finally, God took the 28:14 entire temple away when Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD 28:17 So there's no sacrifices in the 10 commandments at all. Again 28:23 one is moral and one is ceremonial. One is passing and 28:27 one is eternal. God's law was an expression of the character of 28:32 God. It is simply God's nature written down that we can see it. 28:36 We find God's character reflected in his law. God is 28:40 good it says in Luke 18:19. But the law is good Roman's 7:12. 28:45 God is holy. Isaiah 5:16. The law is called holy in Romans 28:49 7:12 as well. God is just Deuteronomy 32:4. But the law is 28:53 just in Romans 7:12. God is perfect Matthew 5:48. The law is 28:56 called perfect in Psalm 19:7. God is love 1 John 4:8. The law 29:01 is called the law of love in Romans 13:10. God is righteous 29:04 Exodus 9:27, but the law is called righteous in Psalm 19:9 29:07 God is truth Deuteronomy 32:4. The law is truth Psalm 119:142, 29:13 and 151. God is pure 1 John 3:3. But the law is called pure in 29:17 Psalm 19:8. God is spiritual John 4:24. The law is spiritual 29:21 Romans 7:14. God is unchangeable Malachi 3:6. The law is 29:25 unchangeable Matthew 5:18. God is Eternal Genesis 21:33. The 29:29 law is eternal Psalm 111:7,8. Now here is the question that 29:34 comes up. Doesn't the Bible teach that we are not under the 29:38 law? Romans 6 and verse 14: For sin shall not have dominion 29:40 over you: for you are not under the law, but under grace. And so 29:44 people saw see I don't need that law. I'm not under it anymore. 29:47 Right? I've got grace. It's interesting how they read verse 29:50 14 over and over and over but they don't go on and read verse 29:53 15. Now if they'd just read verse 15 it would put a halt to 29:57 their ideas about verse 14 so let's keep reading here and it 30:01 says: What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law 30:05 but under grace? And then Paul answers his own question. He 30:09 says what? God forbid. In the strongest possible language Paul 30:15 does away with this whole idea that the law is done away with. 30:18 Grace does not give license to break the law. Yet that is 30:25 exactly what millions of people tonight are believing. What does 30:27 it mean to be under the law? Okay. Let's go to Romans 3 30:30 together. Verse 19: Now we know that what things soever the law 30:34 saith, it saith to them who are under the law:...So there's that 30:37 same phrase...That every mouth may be stopped, and all the 30:42 world may become guilty before God. So Paul is equating being 30:47 under the law with being guilty before God. In other words, 30:50 those that are under law are guilty in breaking it and they 30:53 are under the condemnation of it This is why Christians who are 30:56 converted are not under it anymore because we are now under 30:59 the power of grace instead. Amen? So Paul is pointing out 31:03 that the power of grace is greater than the power of sin. 31:07 And that's why he says so emphatically that sin shall not 31:10 have dominion over you for you are not under law but under 31:12 grace. The power of grace is ruling in a person's life not 31:16 the idea that we have to be obedient and we're driven by 31:18 that idea. Now we are driven by a whole new motive, that of love 31:25 Grace has the power to overrule the authority of sin and it 31:30 gives us the strength to obey God's commandments. Amen? This 31:34 is the effective reason that the Bible teaches that we're not 31:36 continuing in sin anymore. So those that are trying to obtain 31:40 salvation through the law all the law can do is point out sin 31:44 and condemn it as we saw last night. It cannot save them, it. 31:48 cannot give them the grace they need and so if they're trying to 31:52 find salvation through the works of the law, they're under the law 31:55 because they remain under the condemnation of it. So since 31:59 I've broken God's law this means death for the wages of sin is 32:02 death. To be under grace means to accept God's grace as a means 32:05 of salvation. By faith I accept Christ's death in place of my 32:10 sins. Sometimes people are confused because the Bible at 32:12 times does refer to the 10 commandments as a law of 32:16 condemnation so they say why if it's a law of condemnation it 32:19 be a bad thing. Properly understood there is no conflict 32:25 whatsoever between the law and the gospel. Maybe just a few 32:30 terms here that would help us out. The Bible says the wages of 32:34 sin is what? Help me out here. Death, that's right. And how 32:37 many of us have sinned according to scripture? All have sinned, 32:40 Romans 3:23. And what shows us that we have sinned according to 32:44 the Bible. Yeah the law 1 John 3:4 and Romans chapter 3 and 32:49 verse 20. The law is called good in Romans 7:12. Because if we 32:53 didn't see the law then we wouldn't know our needs. If we 32:56 didn't know our needs we would not go to the Savior who could 32:59 save us from that need, right? So it's true that the law 33:03 condemns us to death because again it shows us where we have 33:09 fallen short of the glory of God But the word gospel means, in 33:16 it's a classic term the word gospel means what? Good news, 33:19 right? But it's the good news of what? It's the good news of 33:23 salvation, right? So it's the good news of salvation from what 33:27 Well Matthew 1 verse 21 says: They shall call his name Jesus 33:32 for he shall save his people from their sins, right? And sin 33:37 is the transgression of the law. So let's put it all together. 33:41 The gospel is the good news of God's plan to save us from 33:46 breaking his holy law. Now if there was no law to break what 33:50 would be the point of preaching the good news of God's plan to 33:52 save us from breaking his holy law if there was no law. It 33:55 wouldn't make any sense, would it? No. You see the law remains 34:00 a law of condemnation because the person is remaining in a 34:04 position of needing confession and repentance. Right. So let's 34:08 go to Romans 8 verse 1. We were here before. There is therefore 34:12 now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who 34:16 walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Has the law 34:19 gone away here? No. Just the opposite. Holy Spirit-filled 34:25 Christians honor the law of God. They become doers of the word 34:28 and not hearers only. So to put it another way the very 34:34 existence of the gospel proves that the law of God must be in 34:41 full force and effect. Because what would be the point of 34:43 preaching the good news of God's plan to save us from breaking 34:47 his holy law if there was no law to break? The Bible says in 34:50 Romans 5 and verse 13. Sin is not imputed when there is no law 34:55 No law, no sin because sin is the breaking of the law. 35:01 Galatians 3:24: Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to 35:04 bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 35:06 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a 35:10 schoolmaster. The word schoolmaster, there really is 35:13 more all-encompassing than... it's real comprehensive than 35:18 just a teacher. It means a tutor The law guided and protected 35:21 until finally they understood faith, right? When faith came 35:26 the idea of faith took over, grace came into the life and now 35:30 they're driven by again a whole new motive which is love for God 35:34 And they no longer have to be driven by the idea of law. To 35:41 show you an example of that I was driving in 35:45 West Virginia one day 35:46 and you know guys how sometimes your right foot just gets awful 35:50 heavy, you know. And it did and all of a sudden I saw this you 35:56 know light on and I looked at my odometer and I winced, Ahh no 36:03 you know. So I pulled over and now he put his lights on. I 36:06 pulled over and you get humble real fast. And he comes up to 36:12 the window and he says to me Ah do you know how fast you were 36:16 going? I'm not going to lie. I said yes officer I do So he does 36:22 his thing and I give him what I need to give him. I'm seeing 36:25 myself. I am really in for it. He's going to sock it to me. 36:31 And he comes back and he says to me I'm going to tell you what he 36:35 says I am going to give you a pardon today. Now I was really 36:37 surprised because I wasn't just two or three miles over. He says 36:43 I'm going to give you a pardon today. But he says, But I'm 36:46 going to tell you something. Don't you ever let me catch you 36:49 doing that speed in the State of West Virginia again. And I said 36:54 no officer you won't. I was true to that. Now when that officer 37:00 pulled me over there's no question I was under the speed 37:03 limit laws, I was under the condemnation of the speed limit 37:06 laws of the State of West Virginia. I knew and he knew it. 37:09 Fortunately for me this kind officer chose to give me a 37:15 pardon which granted I didn't deserve but he gave it to me. 37:20 Now the moment he gave that to me he had the ability and he 37:23 chose to exercise it to give me that pardon. I accepted it. You 37:29 better believe I accepted it. Chuckles. Now that I'm going 37:36 back onto the road can I now wave that pardon out the window 37:38 and say I'm so glad that officer gave me a pardon and now I can 37:42 go any speed I want to. When I was pulled over I was under the 37:46 condemnation of the jurisdiction of the laws of the State of West 37:51 Virginia. Because I've got a pardon does that mean that the 37:53 jurisdiction of laws passed away somehow? I was under the 37:57 condemnation of the law but those speed limit signs are 37:59 still there aren't they? The jurisdiction of law had not 38:02 passed in any way. Why is that so easy for people to understand 38:06 when it comes to human courts of law. So hard for people to 38:09 understand when it comes to God's law. Because with man's 38:15 law a judge can pardon and a man can go free but in God's law 38:22 they can't just work that way. You see God's laws are much more 38:24 binding than man's laws. If God's laws are broken the price 38:29 has to be paid one way or another. And so let's just say 38:33 for sake of the illustration there is a man on death row. And 38:38 this man on death row of course he's guilty as charged. But the 38:41 Governor of the state has the ability, he has the authority to 38:49 free this man. Let's just say for the sake of illustration the 38:51 only way that he could give him that pardon and let that 38:54 murderer go is if he took that man's place. How many pardons 38:58 do you think you'd be getting? Probably not any. But let's just 39:02 say this governor was a Christian and he truly loved 39:04 this man. He thought maybe if I just make this ultimate 39:08 sacrifice this man will appreciate it and he will give 39:11 his life to God. So the governor says I will take your 39:14 place. You can go free and the man springs free and he says I'm 39:17 so glad that that governor gave me grace and now that he did I 39:21 can go and murder all the people I want to. Does that sound 39:24 appreciative? Does it sound logical? And yet that is exactly 39:31 what people are doing when it comes to the understanding of 39:33 the gospel today. They're saying I'm so thankful that God sent 39:35 his Son Jesus into this world. I'm so glad he paid the price 39:39 for my sin. And now that he paid the price for my sin I can go 39:42 and disobey all I want to. I was in the office of a man that said 39:52 he was a Christian minister. He said he was. And I was talking 39:57 to him about this subject and as I was talking to him about this 40:01 subject he became quite annoyed. Because he didn't like the 10 40:04 commandment idea and so he said to me, he said, I have got grace 40:09 and I don't need to be obedient to those 10 commandments and 40:13 because I've got God's grace I can walk out into the street 40:16 with a machine gun and I can mow people down with it and it 40:20 is okay. I'm still going to go to heaven because I've got grace 40:23 Can you imagine? Can you imagine friends. There are some things 40:31 you never forget. And when that man told me that some years have 40:34 gone by but I've never forgotten it. Now here's where we get the 40:38 title for tonight's message. When people think that Jesus' 40:44 death for them provides a license that they can go on 40:48 sinning and breaking God's commandments what they think is 40:52 grace is really a disgrace in God's sight. Amen? You see grace 41:00 always leads to obedience friend Grace never leads to 41:05 disobedience. The scripture says For by grace are you saved 41:08 through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of 41:10 God. Yes that is true but does that grace in anyway do away 41:16 with the law of the 10 commandments? Let's go through perhaps the 41:20 most profoundly clear text in the Bible. Paul settles it for 41:24 time and eternity. Here it is: Romans 3:31. He says: Do we then 41:28 make void the law through faith: God forbid: yea, we do what 41:33 friends? Establish the law. It's the most explicit answer in the 41:38 entire discussion. Paul asks if the law is nullified because we 41:41 have faith in Christ and he says the law is established. The law 41:47 is reinforced because we are grace saved Christians. In fact 41:52 every time this idea comes up do we then make void the law over 41:56 and over and over? Paul answers it in the strongest possible 41:59 language. He says God Forbid! What do you think our heavenly 42:04 Father feels like friend when he sends his only son into this 42:08 world and people who should know better turn around and say well 42:11 Lord, I'm so thankful you died for my sins, I'm thankful you 42:14 gave me grace and now that I have liberty I can go and I can 42:18 sin all I want to. Folks if there's anybody that should be 42:23 so appreciative of God's marvelous grace shouldn't it be 42:27 the Christian who understands what that grace cost? Right? 42:30 Absolutely friend. We praise God for his marvelous grace. And we 42:34 praise God we're not under the penalty of the law but we know 42:38 that God's law still is in full force and effect. If you forget 42:42 everything else I've said tonight then please try to 42:45 remember what I'm about to share with you right now. The only way 42:49 a person can please God is to obey and believe in the gospel. 42:55 Knowing that Christ died for us and believing that Christ died 43:00 in our place, it should put in our hearts such a tremendous 43:04 appreciation and love for that act, that tremendous sacrifice 43:10 that was given on our behalf in turn and we want to obey him 43:15 and love him back. Amen? That's what it's all about friend. We 43:19 want to love God and keep his commandments. License, let's 43:24 give the two sides to this. License is thinking we can 43:27 reject God's law and still be saved. Legalism is the idea that 43:31 we can be saved through the keeping of the law. Neither 43:34 message is true. Both ways are false. A narrow road lies in the 43:39 balance between the two. The Christian way is a truly 43:43 inspired love for God to accept all of his laws and work them 43:48 out as he changes our character. Grace leads us to obey. Here we 43:52 are, 2 Corinthians 9 and verse 8 And God is able to make all 43:57 grace abound toward you; that ye always having all sufficiency in 44:02 all things may abound to every good what? Work. So grace leads 44:09 us to abound to every good work. Grace leads us to obey. Now 44:12 think about this with me. If the devil wants to get people to 44:16 disobey, what might he just do? What is one of his greatest ways 44:21 of attacking grace? It is to change the definition of grace 44:25 in people's minds. So what they think grace really isn't the 44:29 way the Bible speaks of grace at all. And the devil convinces 44:33 people that grace is something different than what it really is 44:36 Grace is more than forgiveness. Grace is life changing. It 44:41 brings with it Christ's righteousness which is right 44:45 doing. Grace brings a transformation to a whole new 44:50 way of life. It's part of the package, right? It's part of the 44:54 package. It lays hold on that faith excuse me. The faith lays 44:58 hold on to that grace but in order to have true faith we have to 45:01 obedience because what are we told here in James 2:20: But 45:04 wilt thou know O vain man that faith without works is what? 45:07 Dead? Why is it so important for us to understand this. Because 45:12 the devil is a deceiver. He deceived a third of the angels 45:15 in heaven so he's good at it, right? And if he can deceive 45:19 them, then he can deceive us to friend if we're not careful. 45:24 Religious leaders...think about it with me. Religious leaders 45:27 not all of them, but many of them are trying to concoct an 45:31 artificial conflict which the Bible does not give. For example 45:37 They're trying to make an argument between law and grace. 45:42 They'll say this, they'll say do you follow the Old Testament? 45:45 Or are you now in Christ? Right? Do you keep the law or have you 45:52 found grace in Jesus. They're trying to build an argument 45:56 where there isn't one. They're trying to build a conflict where 45:59 the Bible doesn't give one. Romans 6 verse 1: What shall we 46:02 say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 46:06 Meaning can we keep on sinning and sinning and sinning that God 46:08 can just keep on giving us more and more grace. He goes back and 46:12 says, God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any 46:16 longer therein. Well Paul settles it again doesn't he? 46:18 Now have you ever heard this? They'll say, Oh but, Jesus 46:24 fulfilled the law and therefore we don't have to. Now that's 46:27 what I call one of those half truths, you know. Someone once 46:32 said, Beware of half-truths because you might end up with 46:34 the wrong half. Right? So did Jesus fulfill the law perfectly 46:40 that he could then impute his perfect life to us? Yes that's 46:43 true. But does that mean that we have no obligation whatsoever 46:46 When Jesus tells us that if he fulfilled it we'll say well that 46:54 means he did away with it. Right? Okay. If you were my 46:58 employer and I was the employee and you said to me, Brian I have 47:04 got a task for you to fulfill. And I'm going away to lunch. I'm 47:08 going to come back in an hour and I want that task fulfilled. 47:11 Is that understood? And I say yes, that's perfectly fine. I 47:14 will fulfill it. So you go away to lunch and you come back an 47:18 hour later and you say to me Brian did you fulfill that task? 47:21 And I say, Oh yeah I did away with it. Would you want me for 47:27 an employee? Chuckles. I probably wouldn't last till the 47:29 end of the day, right? The idea that fulfill means doing away 47:32 with it, that's not what it means here. It means, fulfill 47:35 means to fill to the full. It means to carry it out in 47:38 obedience. When Jesus said to John the Baptist allows me to be 47:41 baptized to fulfill all righteousness that doesn't mean 47:43 that all righteousness was done away with. Not at all. It means 47:47 it was to be carrying out in obedience a righteous thing. 47:52 Paul says in Colossians chapter 1 verse 25 that he was made a 47:58 minister to fulfill to word of God. Now when Paul became a 48:01 minister does that mean the word of God was done away with 48:03 because it was fulfilled? Absolutely not. It means to 48:07 carry out the word of God. That's why he became a minister. 48:09 Now again friends did you know the Bible teaches that Jesus 48:12 fulfilled the law so he could give us strength to do the same 48:15 things? Here we read it in Romans 8 starting in verse 3: 48:18 For what the law could not do, in that, it was weak through the 48:21 flesh...notice now, the law was not weak but it was us that was 48:26 weak...God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, 48:29 and for sin, condemned what? Sin in the flesh. Does it say it 48:35 condemned the law in the flesh? No. People read that into it. 48:38 It says it condemns sin. Now keep going. It says: That the 48:41 righteousness of the law...and it means the right doing of the 48:44 law...might be fulfilled in who friend? Us, who walk not after 48:51 the flesh, but after the Spirit. Now again Holy Spirit filled 48:54 Christians become doers of the law and not hearers only. We're 48:58 free from the bondage of the law to live in loving obedience to 49:00 God because the law has now become our liberty, you see. 49:06 It's our freedom. God's converted us. Now someone will 49:10 say but it's impossible to keep God's law. Oh I've heard that 49:12 one almost more than anything else. But it's impossible to 49:16 keep God's law. When we read these words from Jesus: If you 49:22 love me keep my commandments. I want to ask you a question. 49:26 Would Jesus ask an impossibility of us? No. Would we ask an 49:34 impossibility of our children if we loved our children. Right? No 49:37 Would Jesus say to the woman caught in adultery, go and sin 49:41 no more if it was impossible to sin no more? Of course not. 49:45 Jesus tells us here that we can obey him and he would not ask an 49:49 impossibility of us. We're told in Philippians 4:13 I can to how 49:53 many things? All things and why can we? Through Christ which 49:58 does what to us? Strengthens us. Absolutely friends. Now can a 50:03 carnal mind keep a spiritual law No. That's why we need to be 50:07 converted. Can a spiritual mind keep a spiritual law? Absolutely 50:10 it can. You don't have to worry about it. I don't have to 50:14 struggle. There was a time when I did carnal things but when God 50:18 converted me you know I don't have to struggle to not steal 50:23 someone's wallet or someone's whatever you know. God gave me 50:27 a heart that doesn't want to steal, Amen? Right? So it goes 50:30 for the other things of life. Now the idea that they'll say 50:35 we did cover this previously for they'll say, Oh but to want to 50:38 be obedient that's going back into bondage. Now again these 50:41 are very poor Bible students that say such a thing but how 50:44 does God open up the 10 commandments to us. He says I am 50:48 the Lord by God, which brought the out of the land of Egypt, 50:51 out of the house of bondage. Why would God ever bring them out of 50:56 Egypt and out of slavery if he was only going to give them the 50:58 10 commandments and put them back in slavery. That makes no 51:02 sense whatsoever. Remember now truth is logical. We covered 51:05 that. And then there are those that will tell you...in fact 51:08 before I get into this, the Bible in several places calls 51:11 the 10 commandments a law of freedom. Freedom friends. Those 51:18 that are under the condemnation of it, they're the ones in 51:20 bondage. But the ones that are free through conversion and we 51:24 desire to do it, we're the ones set at liberty. Let's keep going 51:27 Some will try and tell you, but Oh we're in a new grace 51:30 dispensation now. They'll say that the people who lived before 51:32 the cross they were saved by obedience and we who live after 51:36 the cross well we're saved by grace. Now that's another one of 51:39 those half-truths, right? It's true that we are saved by grace 51:42 but how were people in the Old Testament saved? Let's go back 51:46 one chapter here, Hebrews 3 verse 16. It says: For some when 51:50 they had heard, did provoke: Howbeit not all that came out of 51:53 Egypt by Moses. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as 51:59 unto them:...now notice the pronoun them...but the word 52:02 preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in 52:07 them that heard it. You see the them, them, them. It says those 52:11 people referred to here as them they had the gospel preached to 52:15 them. How was the gospel preached to them? Well it 52:19 says...first of all we have to ask the question, who are these 52:21 people or them, Hebrews 3:16. It says those that came out of 52:25 Egypt by Moses. So these are talking about the Israelites. 52:28 How did they have the gospel preached to them? They had the 52:30 sanctuary service. Now we haven't covered this in detail 52:33 in the seminar, but the entire sanctuary service is the plan of 52:37 salvation in miniature, right? God was working out the whole 52:41 plan of salvation as they carried out in illustration 52:45 those services day by day and year by year. So the gospel was 52:49 there in the sanctuary service in types and shadows if they 52:53 actually were to understand it. So this idea that the Old 52:57 Testament where people were saved by works. What does it say 53:00 in Romans 4 and verse 3. Abraham believed God, that means he had 53:04 faith in God and it was counted unto him for what? Righteousness 53:08 That's right. It was by faith. There is only one method of 53:11 salvation from cover to cover, friends. That's God's amazing 53:15 grace through faith in Jesus. You think that in heaven and I'm 53:18 looking forward in heaven to meeting some of these great 53:20 patriarchs of scripture, aren't you? I mean there's going to be 53:24 some amazing people there that we've read about, studied about, 53:26 talked about them and they're going to be there and let's say 53:29 that I'm there in heaven by God's grace and I'm walking down 53:31 that path of gold and here I look up and it's Abraham, right? 53:36 He's coming toward me. Oh boy this is heaven. I haven't talked 53:39 to Abraham. He's a big man in scripture. So I got to him and I 53:45 say hello and Abraham says well hello. And I say you're Abraham 53:50 aren't you? He says yes I am. And he says and who are you? 53:52 Oh my name is Brian McMahon and I'm so pleased to meet you. And 53:56 he says, Pleased to meet you too And then Abraham looks at me 53:59 and he says and when did you live on the earth. I said Oh I 54:02 lived in those exciting time leading up to and culminating in 54:06 the second coming of Jesus. It was so exciting to live right at 54:09 that time. All of a sudden Abraham gets this look of 54:12 concentration on his face and he turns very cynical. He looks at 54:16 me and he wags his finger and says I know your type. You're 54:22 one of those grace-saved Christians aren't you? You're 54:27 one of those that got here the easy way didn't you, right? 54:30 We earned it. Chuckles. You think Abraham's going to say 54:35 that? No. No, he's not going to say that friend. He's not going 54:41 to say that. Abraham would 54:43 be the last one to say that. The Bible says that salvation is not 54:47 of works lest any man should boast. There'll be no boasting 54:52 and Abraham will certainly be one of the humble ones as well. 54:55 Absolutely friends. The difference is that those who 54:59 lived in the Old Testament, they looked forward to the cross by 55:02 faith. We now in our sphere we look back to the cross by 55:06 faith but both sides look to the cross of Jesus friends. No 55:13 question about it. We are all grace-saved people. Now there 55:16 are those that will say, Oh but we have the Holy Spirit. And 55:21 because we have the Holy Spirit we don't need all of those 55:23 commandments because the Holy Spirit is in us. You're going to 55:25 hear it friends, you're going to hear it. Remember this verse 55:28 right here. Acts 5 verse 32. And we are his witnesses of these 55:31 things; and so is also the Holy Ghost...that's referencing the 55:35 Holy Spirit...whom God hath given to them that do what? 55:38 Obey him. So only those that are obedient will be given the true 55:45 spirit of God. There's one other thing I want to cover with you 55:47 here tonight on this. They'll say to you, Oh but we are new 55:51 covenant Christians. Now again most people that will say that 55:54 if they say by that they don't have to be obedient to the 55:57 Commandments then they have no idea what the new covenant is. 55:59 And they probably couldn't even find it in their Bibles because 56:02 if they would read it in their Bibles it totally negate what 56:06 they're saying. Let's go take a look at it. Does the new 56:10 somehow incorporate God's Law or does it do away with God's 56:14 Law? Well let's go take a look here. This is the new covenant 56:19 promise. Hebrews 10 verse 16. This is the covenant that I will 56:22 make with them after those days saith the Lord, I will put my 56:25 laws into their hearts, and in their what folks? Minds will I 56:29 write them. The essential change between the Old Covenant and the 56:34 New Covenant is what I call a change in location. God is 56:41 taking the 10 commandments off of stone, as it were and he says 56:45 I will write them into the fleshly tables of your heart and 56:47 mind that what I ask you to do, that is what you will love to do 56:51 Amen. The New Covenant is made on better promises, not better laws. 56:59 God promises to write his law in our hearts. Our part is to 57:05 accept that and to allow him to do it. That's our part. So the 57:10 weakness was not in God's Law but the weakness was in our 57:13 carnal nature which in itself is a selfish thing. It doesn't want 57:19 to be obedient and that's why we must be converted. Romans 8 and 57:22 verse 7, it says: Because the carnal mind is enmity against 57:26 God...that means it has hatred for God. Notice now what it says 57:29 next thing. For it is not subject to the law of God, 57:34 neither indeed can be. It is amazing that Christians today, 57:38 those who would call themselves Christians at least, would go 57:41 around talking against God's law when essentially God is saying 57:45 that such people are enemies of his right? God is defining those 57:49 that love him and those that hate him versus those that will 57:53 accept his law in their hearts and minds. Wow! If we have to do 57:58 away with any part of the Bible that God forbid that we would, 58:01 but let's use common sense tonight. If any part of the 58:05 scriptures were to be done away with let's not do away with the 58:07 part that God wrote with his own finger on stone. By God's 58:10 grace let's give him our whole heart tonight and let's be 58:14 obedient as God asks us to be. 58:18 ♪ ♪ |
Revised 2025-04-29